Chapter II
AN: Don't worry, Yuri will find some enemies. Trust me. (Cue thunder and maniacal laughter)
The doors swung open again, the snow pounding furiously on the windows. Moby emerged through the door, shaking off the snow and then looking up at us. This was Moby! THE Moby that my mother had constantly talking about with her girlfriends!
"Moby..." I whispered, amazed. This guy was really cool in person. He had this air of "coolness" all around him. He was silent, and yet that only boosted his coolness factor in my eyes!
He said Zoe and instantly smiled, "How's me love, eh?"
Zoe flushed red and motioned for him to sit, "Hey, Mobes, nice to see you too,"
I was so amazing to see these people interact with each other. My brother Ryan and I would always dream of meeting them one day. The closest we ever got was when we attended one race that had Luther, Marisol, Brodi, Eddie, and Seeiah in it. It was a real disappointment, though. That was the only race that had available seating by the time my father was able to find the time to go buy tickets. None of our favorite boarders were in the race, thought Eddie had always been pretty cool and Brodi wasn't that bad. It turned out we were late (and I mean REAL late), so late that we missed their photo shoots and autograph session. That's when it hit me...
"Close friends," Atomika whispered in my ear again, "But no spark,"
I nodded, "Yeah, okay. Whose love life do you NOT know about?"
Atomika merely offered a mysterious grin and sat back in his chair. "Hey, if you're workin' with these people you might as well know about 'em, right?"
"Atomika, are we gonna give out autographs and go through photo shoots before each event?"
Atomika heaved a sigh, "Unfortunately."
"What do you mean 'unfortunately'?" I squealed, "This'll be exciting!"
"Yeah, it will the first couple of times, but by the end of the season, you'll be soooooo sick of those things you'll want to shoot yourself."
Moby threw his board over her shoulder and collapsed on the couch. "Who're they?" he motioned to me, Griff, and Nate. "Hey Kaori," Moby nodded at Kaori and Mac. Mac only glared at him. Word was Mac and Moby didn't 'get along'.
Atomika rolled his eyes when I brought that to his attention, "Mac and Moby are friends, they just refuse to admit it,"
"Woa, there's a lotta stuff I need to learn, huh?"
Atomika shrugged, "Not really, if you know how to trick and race, then yeah, you got it made. Just don't let these guys get the best of you off the track, okay?"
I nodded.
"That there is Yuri," Zoe pointed at me. Moby leaned over the coffee table and offered his hand. I took his hand, wincing at his strong grasp, and offered a nervous smile. I was shaking the hand of THE Moby Jones. A veteran of SSX. He smelled like...really good cologne!!
Moby grinned, "'Ello, Yuri,"
I beamed, "Hi...er...Mr. Jones,"
"Moby,"
"Moby," I repeated obediently.
He grinned, "Calm down there, firecracker,"
Atomika held back a laugh. He leaned towards me again when Moby let go of my hand.
"Loosen up, will you?"
I sighed, "I can't. I just shook Moby Jones' hand."
Moby turned to Nate, the guy sitting next to me.
"I'm Nate," Nate was the one that offered the hand in this situation. I decided I liked Nate. He was a very confident and strong man. He was cool.
"Pleased to meet you, mate," Moby said.
"Same,"
"That THING over there is Griff." Zoe muttered, turning away.
Moby tilted his head to one side, not quite sure what was wrong with Zoe, but dismissed it.
"'Ello, there. You must be the youngest little bugger I ever saw in this league,"
"That's because I am, big shot!" Griff scoffed.
Moby looked offended, but ignored Griff in the long shot. Griff, irritated, wasn't through.
"You know, I may look young, but I'll kick your ass on the slopes, man!"
Moby's eyes widened as he stared at Griff in astonishment. He turned back to Zoe, "Zo, did 'e jus say-?"
Zoe nodded, folding her arms. "You betcha."
Moby turned to me, "And you must be about fifteen?"
I swelled in pride, "No, I'm turning fifteen this month, though,"
"She's very civilized compared to that lil' smurf,"
Nate and I exchanged glances and held back our snorts of laughter.
Just as Griff was about to retaliate, THE Psymon Stark burst through the doors, along with a red headed girl topped in freckles. A pale tall blonde guy followed, stealing glances at everyone occasionally.
"Oh no..." Kaori whimpered and buried her face into Mac's chest. She had been sitting with Mac in the lounge chair, and when she caught sight of Psymon, I could swear all of the color in her face just melted right off of her. These people were so amazing when you got to meet them...so different in person.
"Ah, it's Allegra and Viggo!" Atomika stood up immediately, welcoming them in.
"Which one's Viggo and which one's Allegra?" Griff piped up. Elise, the blonde bombshell with an attitude of her own, strolled in looking very unsatisfied. Allegra and Elise were exchanging glances full of pure poison.
"Why you little-" Allegra started, but Atomika put a hand on her shoulder.
"Ah, ah, ah, I wouldn't if I were you. That little dude's said everything about everyone so far. Just let it go."
Allegra clenched her fists and let out a sigh. She closed her eyes and shook it off. Psymon laughed at her and stared at me, intrigued. I sunk back into my seat, suddenly finding the coffee table the be very, very interesting.
"Would yah look at that!" Psymon said, pointing at me. Psymon Stark was pointing at me!! What would Eric say?? "We got a mini-Kaori!!!"
"Mini-Kaori has a name, thank you," Zoe said. Yes, I automatically registered the fact that Zoe was very cool in my mind by then.
"Oh? And what is it?"
"Yuri." I said. I was afraid of Psymon. He was very intimidating in person, but I had always loved the way he boarded. My other cousin Roy idolized him.
"She's a Jap-Jap!!" Psymon declared, "She's a mini-Kaori!"
Kaori glared at him. Mac shook his head as he stroked her hair. Zoe rolled her eyes, along with Atomika and Nate.
Moby sighed and fell back into the couch, "Aw, give it a rest, mate. You've been torturing Kaori all these years, you gonna start on another?"
Psymon tilted his head, "As a matter of fact..."
Elise made herself as comfortable as she could on the floor and threw Psymon a look. "Yeah, just give it up, Psy, no one cares."
Psymon shrugged and fell onto the couch between Griff and Moby and stared at me intently. It was kind of funny to see Griff sitting next to Psymon. It was like all of Griff's attitude completely vanished when Psymon sneered at him. Griff shrunk off to the corner of the couch, bonding with the armrest.
The pale blonde man-Viggo, I think his name was-wandered off to the side, keeping quiet.
Atomika grinned, "All right! I think that's the lot of you,"
"What? Eddie's not here?" Elise said quickly, getting up.
"I'm afraid so. Eddie isn't on this list here," Atomika's eyes scrolled down the clipboard he was holding and nodded, "Yeah, that's pretty much the rest of you."
Well, I was satisfied. I was gonna be living with my favorite boarders, along with a few new ones, and competing with them! Competing with the boarders of the SSX league!!!
Atomika cleared his throat, "Right. Well, I guess I better be summarizing the mountain up, eh?"
All of us exchanged looks and nodded. "Yeah, yeah, just get on with it so we can get to boarding!" Psymon said, leaning back in the couch, ready to dose off.
Atomika ignored his comment and handed each of us a small replica of the mountain we were on. "This," Atomika said proudly, "Is the three peak mountain that you are currently resting on."
"Yeah? What about it?" Psymon muttered, "Doesn't look so big bad and wolfish to me..."
Out of no where, a pillow came whizzing by my head. I ducked a squeaked involuntarily, and the pillow landed straight at Psymon's head. Everyone laughed and turned to see a very satisfied Elise smiling and waving at Psymon sweetly.
Psymon growled but chose to ignore her. "I'll get you for that one, Riggs,"
"Just try, twinkle toes!" Elise taunted.
"That's enough, kids," Atomika said, though he was smiling himself.
Atomika pointed to the smallest and shortest little peak on the mountain. "Now, this is Peak One."
"Dar," Griff said loudly, "We can see that!"
"You're worse than Psymon-san!" Kaori said angrily. "Please, let him speak!"
Griff muttered under his breath as Atomika went on, "Well, according to last year's trophy winners, they will be the ones conquering the peaks first. Mac, since you won third place in last year's tour overall, you will be the master of Peak One."
Griff snorted, "Big deal!! He won't be the master for long!"
Another pillow collided into the side of Griff's head, "Kid, if you don't shut up, I'll throw more than a pillow at you," Elise muttered coldly.
Mac nodded and grinned, proud of his new position. Kaori kissed his cheek and hugged him tightly.
Atomika went on: "Now, the officials thought it unfair that the veteran's would be taking over the peaks...so for the second peak, we thought it would be interesting to let the newbie's go all out on it to battle for the throne of the second peak. How's that sound?"
My stomach dropped. My face turned pale. My hands began to shake. How could they do that? I would've been perfectly content with having a veteran take over Peak Two! I sighed as I imagined a small speck called Yuri feebly trying (and failing miserably) to crawl across the finish line. I imagined Griff laughing at me. "She's older than me and I still beat 'er!" Instead, Griff said this:
"Oh, man! The second peak is mine!!" Griff said triumphantly, "I'ma kill that peak!"
Elise cleared her throat loudly. Griff shrank back with the armrest. I smiled. Griff was beginning to like that armrest.
Atomika smiled, "So? You newbie's gonna show us what you got?"
Nate grinned, "You betcha,"
Zoe blushed, realizing he said it that same way she had earlier.
I would have to compete with Nate, Griff, Allegra, and Viggo for Peak Two...not cool...
I had only befriended one person out of the four! Allegra and Nate kept their distance from the entire conversation, remaining silent. Also, I wouldn't think of Griff as a "friend". More like a pain.
Atomika winked at me. He must have seen my expression of complete horror. "Don't worry about it. You guys'll do great. Besides, based on some of the talent we saw out there on the track while we were scouting for newbie's, I think you could take some of these so called 'all-stars',"
"Man, I KNOW I can take 'em all! Especially him!" Griff pointed at Mac.
Mac narrowed his eyes and muttered, "You, me. Peak One. After you get beat on Peak Two."
Griff smiled, "You got it!" Griff then suddenly realized what he had said and shrank back into his seat. Everyone was laughing.
"So, the little bugger admits he'll lose at Peak Two?"
"No!" Griff pouted, "I did not! I just didn't catch the last words he said..."
Atomika sighed and chose to ignore Mac and Griff's heated argument, "Well, that leaves the ruler of Peak Three. That will be, based on the overall ranking of last year's SSX Tour, Psymon Stark,"
Psymon grinned, remaining quiet.
"This is gonna be one helluva year!!" Zoe said excitedly, "When do we start??"
"Anytime you want," Atomika replied. "Tomorrow morning, however, at seven in the morning, I need all the newbie's to report to the top of Peak Two. The helicopter out back will be ready to take you all. The plane is leaving at six thirty. No exceptions. Is that clear?"
There were nods and murmurs. I nodded nervously when I met Psymon's stare.
"Okay. Be sure to note this: There are avalanches. Storms. Possible death situations." Atomika was smirking slightly... "Now I suppose I have to get on with the boring stuff..."
Atomika pulled out a long sheet of paper and took a deep breath, "Initially, only the first peak and its basic races and freestyle events are available to all of you. As you place in the top three-out of six-in these events, you'll gain access to more events, and, eventually, you'll gain access to the other peaks. Each peak, in turn, has its own events for you to participate in. Understood?"
Everyone nodded.
"The races and freestyle events have the same, basic goals as ever: Respectively, you're either trying to make it to the finish line first, or you're trying to make it to the finish line with as many points as possible. You earn points by performing tricks, and I am sure you need no explaining for that." Psymon grunted in agreement. "In addition to these two main types of events, you'll find other things to do just by exploring the mountainside. You can ride on to challenge beacons which let you attempt 'big challenges.' These are essentially mini-games which set such goals as having to jump through a series of hoops or demanding that you run into a series of punching bags on the way down that part of the slope. It can be difficult just to find and run into these beacons on your way down, and, generally, the mini-games offered aren't as exciting as the main events we have to offer. Even so, it can be a lot of fun exploring the three peaks, and I highly recommend you try those mini games out. You get extra cash for being in the mini-games. You're not forced to participate in the games, though,"
Atomika grinned, letting his words sink into us. There was so much to do! "In addition to the goals associated with the main events, there are goals based on how many challenges you've completed, how much cash you've collected out of the mini-games, and how much cash you've earned on a peak overall." Atomika said, "Ranking will depend on the amount of cash you have at the end." Atomika stacked his papers on the coffee table. He glance at his watch and sighed, "Okay, I think that about sums it up. Tomorrow morning, I expect all newbies at Peak Two. The pilot will know where to take you. It will be just a short run down the mountain, and it's only just to determine who will conquer Peak Two. You won't earn anything. Clear? And SSX vets, you're welcome to watch. It will just be a short run down the back country, okay?"
Every nodded and jumped up, eager to carry their luggage and boards to the lodge's rooms. I only followed suit, my stomach dragging behind me. There were so many things I had to learn and understand in this thing...
AN: Don't worry, Yuri will find some enemies. Trust me. (Cue thunder and maniacal laughter)
The doors swung open again, the snow pounding furiously on the windows. Moby emerged through the door, shaking off the snow and then looking up at us. This was Moby! THE Moby that my mother had constantly talking about with her girlfriends!
"Moby..." I whispered, amazed. This guy was really cool in person. He had this air of "coolness" all around him. He was silent, and yet that only boosted his coolness factor in my eyes!
He said Zoe and instantly smiled, "How's me love, eh?"
Zoe flushed red and motioned for him to sit, "Hey, Mobes, nice to see you too,"
I was so amazing to see these people interact with each other. My brother Ryan and I would always dream of meeting them one day. The closest we ever got was when we attended one race that had Luther, Marisol, Brodi, Eddie, and Seeiah in it. It was a real disappointment, though. That was the only race that had available seating by the time my father was able to find the time to go buy tickets. None of our favorite boarders were in the race, thought Eddie had always been pretty cool and Brodi wasn't that bad. It turned out we were late (and I mean REAL late), so late that we missed their photo shoots and autograph session. That's when it hit me...
"Close friends," Atomika whispered in my ear again, "But no spark,"
I nodded, "Yeah, okay. Whose love life do you NOT know about?"
Atomika merely offered a mysterious grin and sat back in his chair. "Hey, if you're workin' with these people you might as well know about 'em, right?"
"Atomika, are we gonna give out autographs and go through photo shoots before each event?"
Atomika heaved a sigh, "Unfortunately."
"What do you mean 'unfortunately'?" I squealed, "This'll be exciting!"
"Yeah, it will the first couple of times, but by the end of the season, you'll be soooooo sick of those things you'll want to shoot yourself."
Moby threw his board over her shoulder and collapsed on the couch. "Who're they?" he motioned to me, Griff, and Nate. "Hey Kaori," Moby nodded at Kaori and Mac. Mac only glared at him. Word was Mac and Moby didn't 'get along'.
Atomika rolled his eyes when I brought that to his attention, "Mac and Moby are friends, they just refuse to admit it,"
"Woa, there's a lotta stuff I need to learn, huh?"
Atomika shrugged, "Not really, if you know how to trick and race, then yeah, you got it made. Just don't let these guys get the best of you off the track, okay?"
I nodded.
"That there is Yuri," Zoe pointed at me. Moby leaned over the coffee table and offered his hand. I took his hand, wincing at his strong grasp, and offered a nervous smile. I was shaking the hand of THE Moby Jones. A veteran of SSX. He smelled like...really good cologne!!
Moby grinned, "'Ello, Yuri,"
I beamed, "Hi...er...Mr. Jones,"
"Moby,"
"Moby," I repeated obediently.
He grinned, "Calm down there, firecracker,"
Atomika held back a laugh. He leaned towards me again when Moby let go of my hand.
"Loosen up, will you?"
I sighed, "I can't. I just shook Moby Jones' hand."
Moby turned to Nate, the guy sitting next to me.
"I'm Nate," Nate was the one that offered the hand in this situation. I decided I liked Nate. He was a very confident and strong man. He was cool.
"Pleased to meet you, mate," Moby said.
"Same,"
"That THING over there is Griff." Zoe muttered, turning away.
Moby tilted his head to one side, not quite sure what was wrong with Zoe, but dismissed it.
"'Ello, there. You must be the youngest little bugger I ever saw in this league,"
"That's because I am, big shot!" Griff scoffed.
Moby looked offended, but ignored Griff in the long shot. Griff, irritated, wasn't through.
"You know, I may look young, but I'll kick your ass on the slopes, man!"
Moby's eyes widened as he stared at Griff in astonishment. He turned back to Zoe, "Zo, did 'e jus say-?"
Zoe nodded, folding her arms. "You betcha."
Moby turned to me, "And you must be about fifteen?"
I swelled in pride, "No, I'm turning fifteen this month, though,"
"She's very civilized compared to that lil' smurf,"
Nate and I exchanged glances and held back our snorts of laughter.
Just as Griff was about to retaliate, THE Psymon Stark burst through the doors, along with a red headed girl topped in freckles. A pale tall blonde guy followed, stealing glances at everyone occasionally.
"Oh no..." Kaori whimpered and buried her face into Mac's chest. She had been sitting with Mac in the lounge chair, and when she caught sight of Psymon, I could swear all of the color in her face just melted right off of her. These people were so amazing when you got to meet them...so different in person.
"Ah, it's Allegra and Viggo!" Atomika stood up immediately, welcoming them in.
"Which one's Viggo and which one's Allegra?" Griff piped up. Elise, the blonde bombshell with an attitude of her own, strolled in looking very unsatisfied. Allegra and Elise were exchanging glances full of pure poison.
"Why you little-" Allegra started, but Atomika put a hand on her shoulder.
"Ah, ah, ah, I wouldn't if I were you. That little dude's said everything about everyone so far. Just let it go."
Allegra clenched her fists and let out a sigh. She closed her eyes and shook it off. Psymon laughed at her and stared at me, intrigued. I sunk back into my seat, suddenly finding the coffee table the be very, very interesting.
"Would yah look at that!" Psymon said, pointing at me. Psymon Stark was pointing at me!! What would Eric say?? "We got a mini-Kaori!!!"
"Mini-Kaori has a name, thank you," Zoe said. Yes, I automatically registered the fact that Zoe was very cool in my mind by then.
"Oh? And what is it?"
"Yuri." I said. I was afraid of Psymon. He was very intimidating in person, but I had always loved the way he boarded. My other cousin Roy idolized him.
"She's a Jap-Jap!!" Psymon declared, "She's a mini-Kaori!"
Kaori glared at him. Mac shook his head as he stroked her hair. Zoe rolled her eyes, along with Atomika and Nate.
Moby sighed and fell back into the couch, "Aw, give it a rest, mate. You've been torturing Kaori all these years, you gonna start on another?"
Psymon tilted his head, "As a matter of fact..."
Elise made herself as comfortable as she could on the floor and threw Psymon a look. "Yeah, just give it up, Psy, no one cares."
Psymon shrugged and fell onto the couch between Griff and Moby and stared at me intently. It was kind of funny to see Griff sitting next to Psymon. It was like all of Griff's attitude completely vanished when Psymon sneered at him. Griff shrunk off to the corner of the couch, bonding with the armrest.
The pale blonde man-Viggo, I think his name was-wandered off to the side, keeping quiet.
Atomika grinned, "All right! I think that's the lot of you,"
"What? Eddie's not here?" Elise said quickly, getting up.
"I'm afraid so. Eddie isn't on this list here," Atomika's eyes scrolled down the clipboard he was holding and nodded, "Yeah, that's pretty much the rest of you."
Well, I was satisfied. I was gonna be living with my favorite boarders, along with a few new ones, and competing with them! Competing with the boarders of the SSX league!!!
Atomika cleared his throat, "Right. Well, I guess I better be summarizing the mountain up, eh?"
All of us exchanged looks and nodded. "Yeah, yeah, just get on with it so we can get to boarding!" Psymon said, leaning back in the couch, ready to dose off.
Atomika ignored his comment and handed each of us a small replica of the mountain we were on. "This," Atomika said proudly, "Is the three peak mountain that you are currently resting on."
"Yeah? What about it?" Psymon muttered, "Doesn't look so big bad and wolfish to me..."
Out of no where, a pillow came whizzing by my head. I ducked a squeaked involuntarily, and the pillow landed straight at Psymon's head. Everyone laughed and turned to see a very satisfied Elise smiling and waving at Psymon sweetly.
Psymon growled but chose to ignore her. "I'll get you for that one, Riggs,"
"Just try, twinkle toes!" Elise taunted.
"That's enough, kids," Atomika said, though he was smiling himself.
Atomika pointed to the smallest and shortest little peak on the mountain. "Now, this is Peak One."
"Dar," Griff said loudly, "We can see that!"
"You're worse than Psymon-san!" Kaori said angrily. "Please, let him speak!"
Griff muttered under his breath as Atomika went on, "Well, according to last year's trophy winners, they will be the ones conquering the peaks first. Mac, since you won third place in last year's tour overall, you will be the master of Peak One."
Griff snorted, "Big deal!! He won't be the master for long!"
Another pillow collided into the side of Griff's head, "Kid, if you don't shut up, I'll throw more than a pillow at you," Elise muttered coldly.
Mac nodded and grinned, proud of his new position. Kaori kissed his cheek and hugged him tightly.
Atomika went on: "Now, the officials thought it unfair that the veteran's would be taking over the peaks...so for the second peak, we thought it would be interesting to let the newbie's go all out on it to battle for the throne of the second peak. How's that sound?"
My stomach dropped. My face turned pale. My hands began to shake. How could they do that? I would've been perfectly content with having a veteran take over Peak Two! I sighed as I imagined a small speck called Yuri feebly trying (and failing miserably) to crawl across the finish line. I imagined Griff laughing at me. "She's older than me and I still beat 'er!" Instead, Griff said this:
"Oh, man! The second peak is mine!!" Griff said triumphantly, "I'ma kill that peak!"
Elise cleared her throat loudly. Griff shrank back with the armrest. I smiled. Griff was beginning to like that armrest.
Atomika smiled, "So? You newbie's gonna show us what you got?"
Nate grinned, "You betcha,"
Zoe blushed, realizing he said it that same way she had earlier.
I would have to compete with Nate, Griff, Allegra, and Viggo for Peak Two...not cool...
I had only befriended one person out of the four! Allegra and Nate kept their distance from the entire conversation, remaining silent. Also, I wouldn't think of Griff as a "friend". More like a pain.
Atomika winked at me. He must have seen my expression of complete horror. "Don't worry about it. You guys'll do great. Besides, based on some of the talent we saw out there on the track while we were scouting for newbie's, I think you could take some of these so called 'all-stars',"
"Man, I KNOW I can take 'em all! Especially him!" Griff pointed at Mac.
Mac narrowed his eyes and muttered, "You, me. Peak One. After you get beat on Peak Two."
Griff smiled, "You got it!" Griff then suddenly realized what he had said and shrank back into his seat. Everyone was laughing.
"So, the little bugger admits he'll lose at Peak Two?"
"No!" Griff pouted, "I did not! I just didn't catch the last words he said..."
Atomika sighed and chose to ignore Mac and Griff's heated argument, "Well, that leaves the ruler of Peak Three. That will be, based on the overall ranking of last year's SSX Tour, Psymon Stark,"
Psymon grinned, remaining quiet.
"This is gonna be one helluva year!!" Zoe said excitedly, "When do we start??"
"Anytime you want," Atomika replied. "Tomorrow morning, however, at seven in the morning, I need all the newbie's to report to the top of Peak Two. The helicopter out back will be ready to take you all. The plane is leaving at six thirty. No exceptions. Is that clear?"
There were nods and murmurs. I nodded nervously when I met Psymon's stare.
"Okay. Be sure to note this: There are avalanches. Storms. Possible death situations." Atomika was smirking slightly... "Now I suppose I have to get on with the boring stuff..."
Atomika pulled out a long sheet of paper and took a deep breath, "Initially, only the first peak and its basic races and freestyle events are available to all of you. As you place in the top three-out of six-in these events, you'll gain access to more events, and, eventually, you'll gain access to the other peaks. Each peak, in turn, has its own events for you to participate in. Understood?"
Everyone nodded.
"The races and freestyle events have the same, basic goals as ever: Respectively, you're either trying to make it to the finish line first, or you're trying to make it to the finish line with as many points as possible. You earn points by performing tricks, and I am sure you need no explaining for that." Psymon grunted in agreement. "In addition to these two main types of events, you'll find other things to do just by exploring the mountainside. You can ride on to challenge beacons which let you attempt 'big challenges.' These are essentially mini-games which set such goals as having to jump through a series of hoops or demanding that you run into a series of punching bags on the way down that part of the slope. It can be difficult just to find and run into these beacons on your way down, and, generally, the mini-games offered aren't as exciting as the main events we have to offer. Even so, it can be a lot of fun exploring the three peaks, and I highly recommend you try those mini games out. You get extra cash for being in the mini-games. You're not forced to participate in the games, though,"
Atomika grinned, letting his words sink into us. There was so much to do! "In addition to the goals associated with the main events, there are goals based on how many challenges you've completed, how much cash you've collected out of the mini-games, and how much cash you've earned on a peak overall." Atomika said, "Ranking will depend on the amount of cash you have at the end." Atomika stacked his papers on the coffee table. He glance at his watch and sighed, "Okay, I think that about sums it up. Tomorrow morning, I expect all newbies at Peak Two. The pilot will know where to take you. It will be just a short run down the mountain, and it's only just to determine who will conquer Peak Two. You won't earn anything. Clear? And SSX vets, you're welcome to watch. It will just be a short run down the back country, okay?"
Every nodded and jumped up, eager to carry their luggage and boards to the lodge's rooms. I only followed suit, my stomach dragging behind me. There were so many things I had to learn and understand in this thing...